1.
Pennsylvania State University
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The Pennsylvania State University is a public, land-grant, research-intensive university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction and its University Park campus, the flagship campus, lies within the Borough of State College and College Township. It has two law schools, Penn State Law, on the schools University Park campus, and Dickinson Law, the College of Medicine is located in Hershey. Penn State has another 19 commonwealth campuses and 5 special-mission campuses located across the state, Penn State has been labeled one of the Public Ivies, a publicly funded university considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League. Annual enrollment at the University Park campus totals more than 46,800 graduate and undergraduate students and it has the worlds largest dues-paying alumni association. The universitys total enrollment in 2015–16 was approximately 97,500 across its 24 campuses, the university offers more than 160 majors among all its campuses and administers $3.62 billion in endowment and similar funds. The universitys research expenditures totaled $836 million during the 2016 fiscal year, annually, the university hosts the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, which is the worlds largest student-run philanthropy. This event is held at the Bryce Jordan Center on the University Park campus, in 2014, THON raised a program record of $13.3 million. The universitys athletics teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are known as the Penn State Nittany Lions. They compete in the Big Ten Conference for most sports, centre County, Pennsylvania, became the home of the new school when James Irvin of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, donated 200 acres of land – the first of 10,101 acres the school would eventually acquire. George W. Atherton became president of the school in 1882, shortly after he introduced engineering studies, Penn State became one of the ten largest engineering schools in the nation. Atherton also expanded the arts and agriculture programs, for which the school began receiving regular appropriations from the state in 1887. A major road in State College has been named in Athertons honor, additionally, Penn States Atherton Hall, a well-furnished and centrally located residence hall, is named not after George Atherton himself, but after his wife, Frances Washburn Atherton. His grave is in front of Schwab Auditorium near Old Main, in the years that followed, Penn State grew significantly, becoming the states largest grantor of baccalaureate degrees and reaching an enrollment of 5,000 in 1936. In 1953, President Milton S. Eisenhower, brother of then-U. S, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, sought and won permission to elevate the school to university status as The Pennsylvania State University. Under his successor Eric A. Walker, the university acquired hundreds of acres of surrounding land, and enrollment nearly tripled. In addition, in 1967, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, in the 1970s, the university became a state-related institution

2.
Blue Band
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The Penn State University Marching Blue Band, known generally as the Blue Band, is the marching band of Pennsylvania State University. Founded in 1899, it is the largest recognized student organization at the University Park campus of Penn State, the primary function of the Blue Band is in support of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, performing for all home football games at Beaver Stadium. The current Blue Band numbers 323 members, including 274 instrumentalists,32 Blue Band Silks,15 Touch of Blue, a drum major, members come from virtually all curricula and colleges represented at the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. The 2016–2017 Penn State Marching Blue Band includes, The Blue Band traces its history to 1899 with the formation of a six-member drum and bugle corps initiated by student George H. Deike. A donation from steel magnate and Penn State College Board of Trustees member Andrew Carnegie made possible the formation of a band in the summer of 1901. By 1913, the organization was known as the College Band, in 1923 a few new blue uniforms were purchased towards replacement of the old brown military style uniforms in use. Blue uniforms were issued on the basis of ability and rank, photos from 1924 show a nucleus of blue uniformed members in a block S” formation surrounded by a large number of brown uniformed band members. This select group of instrumentalists became known as the Blue Band, during succeeding eras in which Hummel Fishburn, James W. Dunlop, Ned C. Deihl, Dr. O. Richard Bundy served as directors, today, the director of the Marching Blue Band is Gregory Drane. The Blue Band is open to all students at the University Park Campus by competitive audition, the Blue Band accepts 290–315 student members annually. Veteran members must reaudition for the band the year if they wish to return. The audition process consists of two parts of a standard etude or solo played on the Tuesday or Wednesday before band camp, the student should pick a slow/lyrical section and a technical/virtuosic section that demonstrates his/her current playing level. Staff members score both prepared and sightread performances, which are then tallied and ranked to assist the staff, though the band consists of over 300 players, there are fewer positions in both the pregame and halftime performances. After all the slots on the drill are filled, the remaining players are assigned to double a spot on the field with another Blue Band member. These alternates are required to all the music and drill just as a regular member. Within each alternate pair, each person is guaranteed one performance between the first two football games, afterwards, the whole section competes for spots on the field by memorizing and checking off as many pieces as possible. If there is a tie or the section has all of their music checked off. A challenge consists of the playing of Lions 68 while marching the skill drill, membership in the Blue Band requires a large time commitment

3.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s

4.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America

5.
Rec Hall
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Recreation Building, or Rec Hall as it is more commonly known, is a field house located on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. It was opened on January 15,1929 and is still in use, previously, Penn States indoor sports teams played in a building known as the Armory, which was razed to allow expansion of the Willard Building. The mens and womens basketball teams moved to the Bryce Jordan Center in 1996 but the gymnastics, volleyball, the well-known Nittany Lion Shrine is located nearby this building. The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, commonly known as THON, was held in Rec Hall from 1999 to 2006, the architect was Charles Z. Klauder, who had designed the University of Pennsylvanias Palestra. The Colonial Georgian design of Rec Hall was chosen to harmonize with other new structures on campus, Rec Hall has undergone many renovations over its history. Along with this, lighting and building acoustics were also improved, in 2005 electronic LED scoreboards were installed and lower seating bowl bleachers were replaced. Renovation of Rec Halls south wing was completed in 2006, including expansion of the student fitness center, the largest crowd in Rec Hall history,8,600, witnessed the mens basketball team defeat Virginia 93-68 on December 5,1973. Another notable game was the 1991 Atlantic 10 Conference mens basketball tournament championship, Penn State teams have won five national championships in Rec Hall, boxing, wrestling and mens gymnastics

6.
Bryce Jordan Center
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The Jordan Center is a 15, 261-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. The arena opened in 1995 and is the largest such venue between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It replaced Rec Hall as the home to the Nittany Lions mens and womens teams, the Pride of the Lions Pep Band. It also plays host to a number of such as music concerts, circuses. The arena is named after former Penn State University president Bryce Jordan who was instrumental in acquiring the funding needed to build it, the arena is associated with the Arena Network, a marketing and scheduling group of 38 arenas. The arena is located across the street from Beaver Stadium on Curtin Road and this part of campus is home to many of the schools athletic facilities, including the recently built Medlar Field at Lubrano Park baseball facility and Jeffrey Field soccer stadium. There is an electronic display outside the arena which provides advertisements for future events. The university also recently contracted with ANC Sports to install over 900 feet of LED ribbon board signage to be used for sponsor advertisements, the Jordan Center is owned by Penn State University and operated through its Auxiliary & Business Services Unit. It hosts numerous concerts and World Wrestling Entertainment events, including RAW, parts of Aerosmiths 1998 live album, A Little South of Sanity, were recorded at the Jordan Center. Lead singer Steven Tyler can be heard yelling State College out to the audience in order to them up during Love in an Elevator. The music video for The Backstreet Boys 2000 hit, The One, was filmed at the arena, tina Turner was scheduled to perform during her Twenty Four Seven Tour on September 29,2000, but the show was cancelled, due to scheduling conflicts. Britney Spears played a concert in 2001 as part of her Dream Within a Dream Tour, some performances were taped with a new technology, at the time, called First-person shooter engine and were released as bonus videos in her video game Britneys Dance Beat, for PlayStation 2. On May 3,2003, Pearl Jam played their longest concert at the venue, in March 2006, the arena hosted first and second rounds of the NCAA Womens Division I Basketball Championship. The arena also hosts the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Basketball Championships on a yearly basis, in 2007, the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, commonly known as THON, was moved to the Jordan Center. The event, designed to raise money to fight pediatric cancer, in March 2013, Lady Gaga was to take her Born This Way Ball Tour to the Jordan Center, however, the date was ultimately cancelled due to the singer needing hip surgery. In May 2015, Garth Brooks brought the Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood to the arena and it is Brooks first tour since the late 1990s. It is also the first time he has played in the state twice on this tour. Official Website Bryce Jordan Center at GoPSUSports. com

7.
Nittany Lion
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The Nittany Lion is the mascot of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, USA and its athletic teams. It refers to the lions that are thought to have once roamed Mount Nittany. There is a song played during sporting events on campus entitled The Nittany Lion, fans know this song as Hail to the Lion, even though that is not technically the name of the song. The mascot was the creation of Penn State senior H. D. Joe Mason in 1907 since the Nittany Lion is not a real animal, while on a 1904 trip to Princeton University, Mason had been embarrassed that Penn State did not have a mascot. Mason did not let that deter him, he fabricated the Nittany Lion on the spot, the Lions primary means of attack against the Tiger would be its strong right arm, capable of slaying any foes. Upon returning to campus, he set about making his invention a reality, in 1907, he wrote in the student publication The Lemon, Mountain lions had roamed on nearby Mount Nittany until the 1880s. The original nittany lion can be seen in the Penn State All-Sports Museum as the only known mounted eastern mountain lion and it was killed in Susquehanna County by Samuel Brush in 1856. During those 25 years an estimated 600 cats were killed in that county alone, Nittany Lion Shrine Nittany Lion Mascots Esposito, Jackie R. and Steven L. Herb. The Nittany Lion, Penn State Press,2001 ISBN 0-271-02115-2

8.
Legion Of Blue
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Legion of Blue is the student cheering section supporting the Penn State Nittany Lions mens basketball team. Founded during the 2003/2004 season, ESPN and the Big Ten Network have featured the section during live game action. From 2003 until 2007, the organization was known as Nittwits, Legion of Blue stands courtside surrounding three sides of the floor at the Jordan Center where they cheer for the team. Students occasionally wear blue and white scarves to complement their t-shirt, Legion of Blue creates a dirt sheet before every home game to give to students. Included in the sheets are chants for the night. During the 2007/08 season, participation in the Legion dramatically increased, Legion of Blue also plans away game bus trips to both conference and non-conference gymnasiums. Past excursions include visits to Seton Hall, Michigan, St. Josephs, Penn, in March 2006, ESPNs Page 2 did a nationwide search for the top male and female student fans of college basketball. Legion of Blue was also featured in conjunction with the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon as part of ESPNs Student Spirit Week for the Nittany Lions 2008 matchup against Ohio State. Nittany Nation, official website GoPSUsports. com, official Penn State athletic website Forty Minutes, controversial 2005 Ohio State edition Forty Minutes, controversial 2006 Ohio State edition

9.
College basketball
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The history of basketball is traced back to a YMCA International Training School, known today as Springfield College, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The date of the first formal basketball game played at the Springfield YMCA Training School under Naismiths rules is generally given as December 21,1891, Basketball began to spread to college campuses by 1893. Governing bodies in Canada include U Sports and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association, each of these various organizations are subdivided into from one to three divisions based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes. The first basketball games in the United States were played at YMCAs in 1891 and 1892, by 1893, the game was being played on college campuses. The original rules for basketball were very different from todays modern rules of the sport, in the beginning James Naismith established 13 original rules, The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist, a player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, the ball must be held by the hands. The arms or body must not be used for holding it, no shouldering, holding, pushing, striking, or tripping in any way of an opponent is allowed. A foul will be called when a player is seen striking at the ball with the fist, or when violations of rules 3 and 4, if either side makes three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents. A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stays there, if the ball rests on the edges, and the opponent moves the basket, it shall count as a goal. When the ball out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field, the thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent, if any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on them. The umpire shall be the judge of the men and shall note the fouls and he shall have power to disqualify men according to rule 5. The referee shall be judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play, in bounds, to side it belongs. He shall decide when a goal has been made and keep account of the goals, the time shall be two fifteen-minute halves, with five minutes rest between. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner, the following is a list of some of the major NCAA Basketball rule changes with the year they went into effect. The first known college to field a team against an outside opponent was Vanderbilt University